Bitmap Brushes?

**David O'Neil** · 24 July 2008, 03:10 AM

Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

My original question is where does this "bitmap brush" concept come from?

Maybe it derives from the fact that using custom brushes within Xtreme often feels like you are trying to use Xtreme as a bitmap editing program--painful and clunky.

**handrawn** · 24 July 2008, 07:05 AM

Lets say 'might as well be bitmap' - brushes

Technically they can be vector sure, but in a program that is touted for its speed and flexibility, getting a jaggy free curve is so much more work in xara because it doesn't stretch along the curve

If we want to be really technical xara brushes are not 'brushes' at all, they are what we used to call an 'image hose'.
They don't draw actual lines, they simply fill the path with a repeated image - its another form of tiling - tiling along the stroke - this is prehistoric in terms of computer graphics

**handrawn** · 24 July 2008, 07:12 AM

PS - to put it another way - there can be vector shapes in xara brushes sure, but no true vector path along the stroke, so this is not a vector brush as understood by those who draw artistically and are interested shaping the line, not lining the shape... [so to speak

]

EDIT: edited to add the word 'true' - its because the brush path is not a true vector path, but a path made up of descrete vector shapes, that the jaggies occur -

it is not enough that the shapes be vector if the path is not stroked

**Albacore** · 24 July 2008, 09:20 AM

Sorry to take so long to come back but work came in the way, a right bugger when that happens.
Yes I agree with you that is a vector brush.
All I have to do to rearrange the brush is to edit it or change the line to a shape and then ungroup. That would be a Scatter Brush in AI.

Maybe I should have stated that it feels like bitmap brush for all the control you have with them.

What if I wanted to draw hair in Xara? All that you have to do in AI is draw the individual lines, group them, save as a brush and then use that brush. In the drawing shown there are 3 lines drawn with three different brushes just drawn it's so easy. You can change the colour at will and if it is a calligraphy brush using the direct selection tool you can edit the shape so easily which is impossible to do in Xara.

I have tried to show the differences using roughly the same brushes in both programmes but have kept them as small as possible. I just think that the brushes in Xara in a lot of ways let the programme down. At the moment I am doing a lot of either pen & ink drawings where I scan them in, then use the outlines and colour over the shapes and outlines. The other way which shows the poor control that we have in Xara over brushes is when I hand trace over the image and try to get the variable line thickness as I can in AI. It is just inferior for both an Art brush and a Calligraphy brush even spending loads of time trying to get a set of brushes as a template so that I can use them time and again. The other problem is that if it is a large drawing using many brushes the re-draw time and file size goes skywards and of course the occasional crash.

**Egg Bramhill** · 30 July 2008, 11:32 PM

Peter,

Sorry for this late reply but I was away over the weekend and have a deadline to reach by Friday (I'm not going to make it!)

It's not that I disagree with anything you're saying. Yes the XXP brushes are clunky etc especially around corners. They need a big make-over, no arguement.

It's just the use of the term "bitmap brushes" that throws me. Your not the only member to refer to XXP's brushes in this way, I've seen it very often.

Perhaps we could find a better description? "Chunky brushes" .... sounds like something the girlfriend might call you ;-)

**David O'Neil** · 31 July 2008, 01:11 AM

Xara VecChunk Brushes™

**Ron Duke** · 31 July 2008, 02:53 AM

I would like to see more flexibility with brushes, too. I have run into the problem many times with the file size becoming SO big that I have to give up on an idea that would have turned out great if I could have finished it.

**steve.ledger** · 31 July 2008, 03:31 AM

As far as my work is concerned, I disregard that brushes even exist (in their current form)
I played with them a little early on - but the lack of fluidity coupled with the slow redraw for anything worthwhile wasn't worth the bother.

**ss-kalm** · 31 July 2008, 03:40 AM

I never even consider using brushes. However, it would be nice to have a gallery for them so that they could be loaded as necessary.

It appears that if you collect some brushes (since a lot of Talkgraphics members have made some great ones) to have them available for use so you can see what they are, they all have to be loaded, which takes a great deal of time to open the relevant drawing, and as mentioned, the file size grows quickly. I would like to see a gallery so that we could just pull into a drawing one at a time as required.

Or am I doing something wrong here.

**Christine Farrelly** · 31 July 2008, 04:57 AM

The best way I have found to store brushes is to keep them in files in a separate directory, and add that directory to your clipart gallery. You can then open the file when you wish to use a particular brush. Even if you immediately close the file the brushes will be available in the line gallery.

Christine